The Boy and His Bow
by MockingClove
Summary: After the successful yet devastating second rebellion, the rebuilding of Panem must begin. However, a series of threats have been made. Whispers are in the air. Somewhere out there, lurking in the darkness, someone is mad - someone does not like change. And that someone will have to face The Boy and His Bow
1. PART I, The Boy: Prologue

_"After the successful yet devastating second rebellion, the rebuilding of Panem must begin. However, a series of threats have been made. Whispers are in the air. Somewhere out there, lurking in the darkness, someone is mad - someone does not like change. And that someone will have to face the boy and his bow."_

 ** _~ The Boy and His Bow ~_**

 **Prologue**

* * *

I saw my parents and my brother blow up into shrivels of flesh in front of my very eyes. I'll just put it plain and simple like that so you can avoid any sort of confusion. Just imagine this:

Sitting in the middle of class at school bored completely mindless. The first noise boosts the class to life. Let's call the noise Bob. Whispers, the odd moron in the corner yelling like a lunatic. But the general reaction? Probably something at the power plants. In 5, it's almost every week that we hear them. Nothing as loud as that one, but it's all we could have assumed.

Assumptions. That's where we went wrong.

You're staring at the clock on the wall, knelling class to a close. The hands swerve by oh-so slowly, and when we come to the final five minutes of school, chaos breaks loose. Sirens activate. Principal Talon's voice breaks out over the intercom.

"Evacuate through the main entrance immediately! I repeat, evacuate-"

 _BAM!  
_

Bob has returned and has completely cut off the audio time he's no longer in first grade. He's a senior, much louder, much more violent. The classroom rumbles, the floor wobbling, whiteboard completely breaks free from its hinges and clashes onto the ground. Pens spilling off desks. Lights flickering overhead. Puffs of dust shooting down as the ceiling threatens to cave in. The idiots whimpered and cowered down under their desks. That's a smart thing to do, actually. But knowing what happened next, I'm able to call them idiots. Why? Because I _can._ They can't. Nothing remains of them now.

Tommy was in the junior side of the school, just minutes away.

 _Run,_

I thought.

 _Run. I can reach for him. Find him. Escape with him and get out without dying._

"Xander!" I heard someone yell from me as I barged out the door. A feminine voice. One of my classmates. Maybe our teacher? I will never know, because just as I spun around, the black dot outside the window turned into a huge metallic beast within seconds. Rocketing through the sky, the missile blasted straight through the window, spinning out of control and leaving a trail of white smoke. Black. It's like I closed my eyes for a split second. Everything went to black. Then the light switch turned back on. Then the curtains were pulled back, revealing the star-speckled sky. Everything went from black to white. The flash split through the room. I watched as all their bodies distorted in the wave of heat. Heads yanked back into truly unnatural positions; then the fire. It ate them all up in one huge bite. Like a tsunami gobbling up a small sail boat in the middle of the sea. It ran past them, locking them up in its fiery prison of death, and then it lunged straight at me.

A skip of my feet would not do. I tried, but then the flame beast managed to tickle my back with its large ferocious fingers. With all my force, I pushed myself up off my feet and straight into the air. My body thrashed against the white brick wall and I dropped like a fly to the ground. The flames burst out the door but were ultimately held back by the invisible bars of a jail cell. Like a criminal trying to escape, they flickered and waved their limbs back and forth. Soon grew tired, contracted and reversed back several feet into the classroom, unveiling me to the scorched bodies. Covered in grey crust, looking like they've been licked by the tongue of a nightmare demon from a child's story.

I was no longer staring at Ms. Vinn. No longer staring at Darcy, the stumpy boy in the front row. No longer staring at Rose who all the other girls aspired to be like. I was staring at the mess of a brutal attack. This time, it wasn't just on our television screens, the aftermath of the first rebellion. This time, it's like I've been sucked through my screen. I'm not the boy who got what he wanted, got a good life, had a happy story wrapped with a wribbon. No; I was now a survivor. One of the ones who was going to be plagued by paparazzi. Soon to be one crying that all my friends were dead. Eventually going to be one of the elderly being interviewed on Capitol TV as a friendly reminder that war never ends well.. Except, there was a slight twist in the tale. I may have survived the starter, but I had to get past the main course and the dessert.

I scanned down either passage of the hallway. If I remembered correctly, left went deeper into the school. Right led to the gymnasium where the nearest emergency exit was. Staying in the school was not an option. I had already seen what happened to those who tried to hide. The Capitol never was happy that we blew up our own hydro-electric dam, the only thing supplying them with electricity. By then, they had probably found some other source to keep themselves barely running, but they were mad. Snow was never going to let us off the hook. From the deaths of a room full of children, Snow had already saved himself a year of preparation for the next Hunger Games, if there were to be any. Just that much would have filled his thirst for blood already. But to kill a school full of children on top of that? That was more than just filling his thirst for blood. That was succeeding in his plans for revenge.

The blaring alarms and thundering clatter of the falling wall in the classroom brought me back to my senses. Another explosion sent bricks flying, completely smothering the corpses in a tornado of throat-scratching dust. Rubble poured out through the door. Just about touching the tip of my runners. Waiting wasn't an option. Through the piles of wreckage, I managed to see the hovercraft shoot up past the school. Up into the air, high as it could go, it whirred around. Completely upside-down for a moment. Then right-side up. A full loop, it had just done. And that's when I knew what was coming next as it flew full speed ahead towards the school again. I stared at the beak of the hovercraft dead straight. It staring back at me. If it could talk, it would probably have said something like "Guess what, dude? You're going to die now." And as cheesy as it sounds, I sort of answered back in my head.

 _Try me._

I jumped to my feet and sprinted away, just as the bang of the third explosion sent the entire end of the hall into smithereens. If I was just two seconds late, I'd be gone. I wouldn't be still running. The entire structure of the building slammed into the ground behind me, rocks flying over my head. Around the corner, I ran straight towards the two doors labelled _OFF LIMITS._ I was there. I knew I was there.

I pushed through both the doors and out into the open air. A small two meter by two meter area filled with cafeteria supplies and piled up bins. The stinging sound of the spinning hovercrafts sharply pierced my ears. I looked up at the sky, now clustered with the dots. Not one anymore. Not even two. Three. Four. Five. At least five. And that's when one of them goes up in flames. A trail of white smoke rockets through the air, finishing off with the flying object bashing into the hovercraft. _BOOM!_ There it goes. Like a huge firework, this time not that colorful. But very explosive. Metal scraps fly though the sky and plummet down towards the Earth. That only means one thing: we were fighting back.

I shoved open the next set of doors and charged into the clustered halls of the junior school. Small toddlers scurried around, teachers trying to control them like mad dogs, most of the children bawling crying. What looked like a crowd of parents stormed through the main entrance where the children completely savage them.

"Mommy!"

"Da Da!"

"It's okay honey, you're safe."

More sentences exclaimed from ahead. Except Tommy was nowhere to be found, and that just wouldn't do.

"Tommy!" I yelled at the top of my voice, dashing down the left corridor. The place was so much smaller than the senior school, of course. This place wasn't much of a maze, but it certainly felt like it in the moment.

"Tom-!" _BAM!_

Something set off behind me. I didn't see it, I heard it. I didn't dare turn back to see who were the victims of the latest explosion. Instead I kept running. Down an empty hall, around a corner to a place that seemed truly abandoned. The more I ran, the more I felt I _was_ in a maze. I would never get out. I'd never find him. But eventually, I did.

"Xander!"

His voice echoed way louder than an explosive would ever do. I took a deep breath, just a small bit of the weight lifted from my shoulders. His voice called out from the ajar door to my left. And so, I pushed it open. Some sort of arts and crafts room. I stepped in, and throughout the chaos, it felt somewhat peaceful. Relaxing. Any moment, I could die, but I didn't feel that way at all. Instead, I felt something different. Calm when I saw his face. He smiled, then turned away to an open door. A door that lead out into the smokey air, rubble scattered everywhere. He jumped outside, curly brown hair blowing in the wind, and he landed directly in the arms of Dad. Mom went in for a hug, then Tommy started crying.

"Xander.. It's Xander.."

Pointed through the door at me, I stood in horror, eyes filling with tears.

"Xander!" my mother yelled at me. "Come here right now!"

And so I did. I ran forward. Staying in the school was no safe place. We would be together. We would run. Hide. Hide anywhere. I'm pretty sure the forest was only a minute away from the school. By the looks of things, the exit led out onto the school yard. The bushes around the yard. We could have hid in them. We could have been safe. We could have all been united.

Then the familiar hovercraft flew through the air. Went upside-down to right-side up; a full loop. Shot straight towards me and let out one of it's shiny little metal objects. It whizzed through the air and crashed straight into the ground just a foot away from Dad's trouser leg. Then my family were sent to the fire's hellish prison, just like my classmates. Its smoking hands reached out and pulled them in. They faded into the light and then it charged towards me. This time, I didn't escape it. Instead of me jumping out the door like before, the blast shoved me out itself. All I remember was smacking against the cold hard ground, my dead eyes staring up at the ceiling, my clothes caught fire like a matchstick. Then when I woke up, there was no fire. No smoke. No roasting heat. Just a piercing bright light on the ceiling that blinded my eyes.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hello everyone! I just want to say I quick hello to you all. Welcome to The Boy and His Bow! Hopefully you enjoyed the prologue and would like some more. Leave me a review and let me know your thoughts! :)

I have a very clear direction for this story and I think it's going to be an interesting one. I hope you all enjoy it. ;)

Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeee! :D


	2. Welcome

_"After the successful yet devastating second rebellion, the rebuilding of Panem must begin. However, a series of threats have been made. Whispers are in the air. Somewhere out there, lurking in the darkness, someone is mad - someone does not like change. And that someone will have to face the boy and his bow."_

 ** _~ The Boy and His Bow ~_**

 **Welcome**

* * *

The pain rocked throughout my body, the aching mainly forming in my back. My brown hair was in thin, sweaty strips. Arms packed tightly underneath the bed sheets. Where was I? This did not look like any hospital in District 5. The roof and the walls were curved. Slick white tiles with black lines running along them. The ground was solid stone, cold looking. My hands slowly peered up from the warmth in the bed. My fingers trembled as they reached for the coolness of the air. Then I heard a voice.

"Do you need any help?"

My eyes met her gaze. Standing in the open doorway. Arms crossed behind her back. Sheets of grey straight hair. Her figure small. She looked no taller than me. Grey must be her thing; even her janitor-like clothes were of the color. She took a few steps forward, her lips popping a smirk.

"Let me introduce myself. I am President Coin, leader of District 13." Her head perked up as she lowered herself down onto the end of the bed. "Our troops rescued you from the school attack in District 5. You were one of the few who got out alive. It was a tough battle. We took heavy losses."

My cracked lips slowly drew themselves open. My breath seeped out. My voice forced itself out in rigid whispers. "Where..." I had too many questions. Too many answers I needed to know. But did I want to know? I didn't even fricken know! I kept trying to choke the words out, but something deep inside me wanted to stop. It wanted me to pause and think instead of talking straight away.

"Would you like some water?" Coin asked, waving her head to the steel cabinet in the corner of the room. My head refused to nod. Words refused to come out of my mouth. I blinked. She got the message - "Ah, I see." Her feet tapped as she paced across the room. My feet glued to the sheets from the sweat as I tried to kick them out the side of the bed. I attempted to swerved to the right, then I heard the snap in my shoulder. The pain stung through my flesh, my eyes squinting, vision getting fuzzy. Then when my eyelids pulled back open, Coin was in front of me with an icy cold glass.

"You're not trying to leave, are you?"

 _Yes, bitch. I am._ Of course she couldn't hear my thoughts though. Her hand moved up to my mouth and she pressed the rim of the glass against my bottom lip. She slowly poured in the water and I felt my mouth cleanse instantly. Like water to a burning fire. I felt even just _slightly_ more relaxed.

"More?"

I blinked twice. She nodded and placed the cup on the floor beside her feet.

"Welcome to 13. Your stay will be quick, so enjoy every second of it before you head back into the real world."

My head twitched. _Real world?_ What was she talking about? Something must have made her aware of my thoughts. The look in my eyes. The face I gave her. Something, because she cleared it all up just moments later.

"You have been in a coma for about a week now. Rebel soldiers have taken the majority of the Capitol and we are trailing extremely close to Snow. Our best crew say that we'll have successfully captured the Capitol in just a few days. Soon you'll be taken home to 5 after you recover."

My eyes strolled down and glared at my patchy skin. Splotchy red singes were lathered like belt whips across me. Bubbled flesh looking like something I would have saw on television from the Games. My head tilted back up and she continued with her glistening smile. I pressed my stiff fingers against my aching throat and tried to hurl out my words. My voice came out in raspy, lifeless wails.

 _"My..."_

Coin rested her palm across my leg and nodded for me to carry on.

 _"...family.."_

I gulped down the saliva and stared into her grey pupils. In those dark rings, I saw more than a leader. I saw my parents. I saw Tommy. I saw them all, all whirring around as shadows in her eyes. Seconds later, I found tears building up in my eyelids.

 _"...is.."_

They flowed down my cheeks and softened the burn pains. Coin gritted her teeth together, shut her eyes and lowered her head. "I see, Xander. I see.." She stood up, shaking her head. "Precious thing, the human life is. Right?"

What was she talking about? I couldn't tell. Soon enough, she was walking out the door. "I will speak with you later. Get a good rest."

They all screamed in my dreams that night. Their faces blending into the flames. Skin oozing as the heat devoured them. They told me I could have saved them if I tried. If only I tried hard enough. If only I ran a bit quicker. Maybe I wouldn't have been alone, locked away in 13, that district that always had a Mockingjay propo playing on television. Maybe Tommy would have been with me.

I felt scratching tickle my arm and my eyes slowly peered open. I expected Coin to be looming over me. Instead, I saw a petite girl. Her head was covered in a thick bush of long dirty blonde hair. Seriously, maybe it was just my sight, but I thought I saw some leaves and mud in that nest of a thing. Her eyes were wide and bulging like a ghost, small brown pupils. Her chipped pink nails dug into my stinging skin and her droopy lips opened.

"Hello?"

I gave a slight nod of my head.

"Oh, hey," she said, finally letting loose of my arm. Like a mad woman, she frantically tapped her feet. Once again, maybe it was just my sight, but I swear I saw one eye looking to the left and the other to the right.

"Got any drinks? I'm so goddamn thirsty and these idiots won't give me nothing." She threw her hands up into the air and they dropped down onto her hips. "Pathetic! They keep offering water, but I want a fucking Cola. An original one, not diet, by the way; I've been through a lot."

Instead of answering, I admired her, mind thinking about what on Earth she just said. The tone in her voice made her sound so serious. That's why I couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or not - that diet Colas cannot be drank if you've seriously been through a lot. Of course she'd go original with full sugar. She was ecstatically bouncing in her boots; metaphorically of course. She was bare-footed.

"You going to answer or not, eh?"

My finger pointed towards the cabinet where Coin got the water from earlier.

"Oh, coolio!" she squealed, trotting over, scratching her scalp through her fuzzy hair. "You're a quiet one, aren't ya?" Her hands almost tore the door from its hinges, she was that giddy. She shuffled inside and gasped, followed by a "Yippee!" as she pulled out a bottle of clear liquid. "Cream soda. My favorite!"

 _"No..."_ My voice barely called out. I tried raising my hand to warn her that the chances of an unidentified liquid in a hospital being cream soda were very low, but she never got my warning. She clipped off the lid and dropped it to the floor. She swallowed nearly half the bottle in one quick chug. A groan echoed from her stomach. One of eyebrows shot up and she bit her lip. Her grasp on the bottle loosened and it smashed against the floor, the liquid splashing everywhere.

"Oh boy.." she whispered to me. "I don't think that was cream soda.."

 _No duh,_ I wished to tell her. Before I got to see an unpleasant sight of her puking all her guts up, a panicked nurse barged through the door. "Saura, what are you doing in here? Why did you leave your room?" She scanned down at the floor, face filling with horror. "What did you do?!"

"It's not my fault-" Saura began clutching her stomach, letting out a burp mid sentence "-that you wouldn't give me any drinks."

I think you will believe me when I say that she left the room thrashing in the arms of several nurses.


End file.
